Here We Go Again
by EmmyR
Summary: The team is called together again for the first time since the invasion to deal with a new threat. Can they handle working together? Will everyone make it through this one?
1. Chapter 1

**I promised another Avenger story a while ago, and it took a bit longer than expected. However, this one is nearly finished, so there won't be horrible waits! I'll stick to once a week for sure this time (I hope) :-)**

**So, I haven't had a chance to see Thor 2 just yet (Evil school!), so don't expect it to match anything with that one. This takes place a while after Iron Man 3, so expect any spoilers up to that point. **

**I've always loved hurting the characters that I love most, but I wanted to go a bit different than my usual story writing. This is mostly Tony-centric, because I'll admit to being a fangirl for Iron Man. However, he's not whumped. Much. Physically. Hehe?**

**Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything that looks familiar. I just love to play in their sandbox. **

* * *

Tony was underneath his latest car, another Audi, as he made a few modifications. Mechanics were his second love, only barely topped by computer science, and hadn't had the chance to work much lately with it. After the whole Extremis… thing, he'd been busy working with Pepper to up SI's stocks. Sure, they had the latest StarkPhone and the new StarkTablet, but the shareholders were wanting more, and he wanted to deliver.

So, now he was working on a new engine system to help improve gas mileage. He'd made something similar years before, but it had cost him an absurd amount of money. All he had to do was find a way to make it less expensive, and the company would be golden for years.

He cursed as his finger jammed and some of the oil got in the cut. Just as he was about to roll out from under the car, he had a prickling sensation on his neck. While he hadn't been in the field in over a year, he had learned the hard way never to ignore those feelings. Grabbing the nearest sharp object, which was one of his tools, he held it tightly, rolled out from under the car as quickly as he could, and chucked it at the intruder.

Nick Fury, director of SHIELD, caught it an inch from his face and gave Tony a smirk.

Tony growled as he saw who it was. "Jarvis, what have I told you about letting in people with only one eye?"

"_My records show that there is no such command."_

"And SHIELD lackeys?" Tony countered to the cheeky AI.

"I'm here on business, Stark," Fury interrupted the banter before it could continue. He had a file in his hands, and could see Stark's eyes on it.

Tony couldn't decide how to feel. After the event in New York, he hadn't heard from any of the team, except for the occasional visit with Bruce, which was awesome. He hadn't spoken with any of the others since, nor had he heard from SHIELD. "For Tony Stark, or for Iron Man?" he asked shrewdly. He still hadn't forgiven them for trying to split the two.

Fury sighed. "I'm not sure yet," he admitted. "I'll be calling all of the Avengers for the debrief. Tomorrow, the Helicarrier will be over DC at 0900, and I expect you to be there. I imagine you'll find your own ride?"

Knowing that he still hadn't made a new suit ever since they'd all been destroyed, Tony hesitated. It was only for a moment, though. "I'll get there," he said. Either he would come up with a suit, or he would take one of his own jets. "Now, leave the file and get out of my workshop," he grumbled, turning back to his car. "I have work to do."

Fury grinned. It was just like old times. He dropped the file onto Stark's desk, which was one of the only free surfaces in the shop, and made his way out. For some strange reason, he had the urge to whistle. It had been far too quiet around SHIELD without the Avengers to liven things up. He hoped that was about to change.

* * *

Tony waited until a while after Fury had left before he finally stopped what he was doing (not that he was really doing anything, the file had been distracting him), he went and sat down at his desk and started reading.

His grip on the papers tightened the further he read. Once again, someone was attempting to recreate the super serum that had made Steve, as well what ended up creating Hulk. They were based somewhere in Mexico, and had slowly been moving their way north into the US. The 'volunteers' they had gotten had all died.

Having been through something similar with Extremis lately, he was rather sensitive to this kind of thing, which he was sure Fury was aware of. It seemed like they were just needing Tony to hack into their network and get a better idea of everything, which he was more than willing to do. However, the logical part of his brain told him that it likely wouldn't end there.

"J, pull up the schematics that I made for the Mark 45," he said in a rather resigned tone. Pepper really was going to kill him for this. Right now, though, it didn't look like he had much of a choice.

* * *

Pepper looked at her watch for the tenth time and sighed. It had been a while since she had needed to physically drag Tony to bed. A short while after Extremis, actually, had been the last time. Since it was already after 1 am, though, she sighed and made her way down to the workshop. When she saw the plans for another suit, she couldn't help the fear that coursed through her.

"What is going on?" she asked, and watched him jump slightly and give her a guilty look. That's when she became worried. Tony rarely gave her that look, and it was never good. "What happened?" she asked.

Tony waved a hand, and the holographic projection disappeared. "Fury came by today," he started, and nodded at the tightening in her face. "He's calling the team together again. Could be something going down soon."

Pepper looked around at the workshop, and began to wonder if this was going to be never ending for them. Would the world always need Iron Man? She wouldn't voice that thought, though. Not yet. She picked up the file and started reading. She had a rather high security clearance, as CEO of SI. Also, Fury was aware that she always read the debriefs. She paled as she read it through, and understood why Tory was going to go through with this. "Try to get some rest tonight?" She asked. She would check on him in the morning when she brought him coffee.

Tony watched her leave, and felt, not for the first time, as though he needed to choose between Iron Man and Pepper. He shook himself slightly, deciding to worry about it later. "Alright, let's see about making it a bit more compact. I'd like something that's smaller than the Mark 5. That was too much hassle to carry around."

The two of them worked well into the night and finally, around 4, they had something worth assembling. "Can we get that done in time?"

"_You will be approximately 35 minutes late for the debrief, sir, if you take into account the time needed for completion and flight."_

"Sounds good. Let's do this." He raked a hand across his face and started working on cleaning up the shop a bit, which took him an hour or so. He finally started making his way upstairs to grab some coffee. He knew it was going to be a long day. When he reached the kitchen, though, he started waking up to the wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee. Pepper gave him a weak smile as she poured him a cup. "Is the suit going to be ready in time?" she asked as she fixed it the way he liked. She was already dressed for the day in her skirt suit and stilettos.

"Barely, but I don't think Fury expects me to be on time anyway." Tony took a few gulps of the drink and waited for the caffeine to take effect. "I'll send you a text around lunchtime to let you know what's going on."

Pepper nodded as she filled her travel mug, having already had two cups of her own. Time with Tony had corrupted her, and it showed in her coffee consumption. "I hope I don't have to tell you to be careful," she said, keeping her eyes anywhere but on him.

Tony looked at her for a moment, and set his cup down quietly. He walked around the counter until he was standing next to her, and forced her chin up with one of his fingers. "You don't have to tell me, because I'll already be thinking about coming home to you."

That forced a smile out of her, and they continued with their normal morning routine. She had a few papers for him to sign, which he did much more gracefully than he usually would have. She accepted the papers with a smile, which was a bit more genuine than before, and made her way to the office.

Tony watched her leave, and then made his own way to the workshop, where he tried to occupy his time with his Audi. After a few more minor issues, though, he realized that he couldn't keep his mind off the impending meeting.

Bruce would be there, which would be nice. He hadn't seen his fellow scientist for a few months, and they could catch up. Maybe he could even chat with the other guy for a while. He hadn't seen the Hulk since Manhattan.

Natasha was a wild card. Tony knew that he would never be able to fully trust her, regardless of the fact that they were teammates. There was just too much history there, and though he knew, intellectually, that she had been doing it under orders, it didn't lessen the fact that he would never accept betrayal twice by the same person.

Thor was an unknown, and not just for the fact that Loki was his brother. He was quite literally an alien, and while that sent up quite a few red flags for him, it was also an unknown variable. The scientist in Tony thrived at the idea of having a chance to learn something completely unknown to any others, except for maybe Reed Richards.

Clint was a complete mystery to him. The first communication they had was in the middle of a battle, and while Tony thought that the archer was good in that setting, managing to keep a cool head, looked out for the teammates, and did what he needed to do, he didn't know the man at all. He'd have to do some more research before trusting the man.

Steve. Well, Steve was one person that Tony didn't want to think about unless he had less coffee and more liquor. While they had no real history, there was the whole Howard thing standing between them. The life sized elephant in the room that would likely never go away, no matter how much time had passed. Also, they were completely different people in every sense of the word. He could likely write an entire book on their differences, but would have a hard time completing a single Word page about their similarities.

Deciding that he'd done enough brooding for the morning, he looked up as Jarvis informed him that the suit was ready. He grinned, realizing how much he'd actually missed this. "Alright, J, let's suit up." Iron Man was back.

* * *

**This is just the beginning, it'll pick up soon. I couldn't help starting this after watching IM3. I just can't imagine Tony giving up Iron Man completely, you know? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Finals are finally over! Thank goodness; one more essay and I might have thrown my laptop through a window... Now I can spend my free time writing whilst on Christmas break :-)**

* * *

Upon arriving in the briefing room, Tony's eyes immediately narrowed at the sight. Natasha was grinning and holding her hand out to Clint, who was grumbling as he counted bills into her hand.

"Already making money off of me, Ms. Rushman?" Tony asked with a raised brow.

His tone didn't affect her very much. "They thought you would be later than you are. We're still waiting on Thor."

Tony nodded as he sat down between her and Bruce. "Well, then I would like to take this moment to explain my fee."

She raised a single brow at that and leaned back in her chair. "Your fee?" she asked.

Tony just nodded at her as he set his bag down next to his chair. While his current suit didn't pack nearly the same punch that a few of his older ones did, this one was about the size of a textbook. He didn't like the idea of storming halfway across the carrier to suit up again. "Yes, my fee. You can ask Pepper, but if you make any money off a bet about me, I charge 50% of the profits. Otherwise I'll find a way to, well, discourage any further betting."

Natasha stared at him for a moment as though to ascertain whether or not he was pulling her leg. She was saved from completing the thought by the arrival of the god of thunder, who smiled at everyone. "Friends. It is good to see all of you once again."

Tony nodded to him, but snapped his fingers impatiently at the spy. "Come on now, we don't have all day."

Deciding that it wasn't worth the fight, she handed over two fives of the four that Barton had just given her. Tony nodded his thanks and pocketed the cash. "Now, where's the world's favorite pirate-spy?" he asked, looking around.

"Good to see you, too, Stark," Fury said as he entered the area, Hill directly behind him. With the passing of Coulson, she had picked up a lot more duties, from what Tony had gathered. "We've gathered intelligence that there's a group who are trying to create a serum that a few of you might be familiar with." He glanced at Bruce, Steve, and Tony as he said this.

Tony realized he shouldn't be surprised that the man knew about his involvement with Extremis. "How did you get this information?" he asked. There had been nothing about that in the file he'd been given.

Fury shifted only slightly, but this wasn't a team of the ordinary agents. These were the Avengers, and they hadn't gained a reputation for being slow. "We have an agent undercover with them who has been under for almost a year now. He's been sending us information about their experiments, and we think it's time that we got involved. The body count is nearly up to two hundred now, and they show no signs of slowing down or stopping."

"What's the plan?" Steve asked from the corner. He didn't like the sound of this any more than the others, but he wanted to know what he was getting into.

"Our agent is good, but he's lacking some of the finer computer skills we're needing," Fury said, and looked at Tony. "What we need right now is a better idea of their main headquarters. We know where their legitimate offices are, but the seedier ones are pretty well hidden all around Mexico, and our agent hasn't advanced far enough in the group yet to be invited out to them."

"Who's the agent?" Clint asked. It seemed strange that the director never mentioned a name.

Fury shifted again, and everyone's eyes narrowed at that. "No one you need to worry about. Now, what we're wanting to start with is for Stark to hack their network and get a better idea of what we're dealing with. As soon as we can do that, we'll formulate a plan based on that intel."

Everyone turned to Tony, who just shrugged. "Should be simple enough. You got a computer I can use?" he asked, and Fury gestured towards the monitors behind him. He stood and made his way over and pulled out his Bluetooth, quickly hooking it into his ear. "Jarvis, you there?" he asked. He was also working on a Starktooth, but he knew he needed to come up with a better name. Something to make it his own. Well, more time for that brainstorming later.

"_At your service, sir."_

"Great. Let's see the damage we can do here. Completely invisible to start with. If there's something we need, we'll deal with it then, but I'd rather them not know I'm in. More important than speed right now."

"_As you wish._"

Tony turned back to the rest of the group, and gestured Clint to bring him a chair. "You guys might want to grab a drink. This could take me a while." Clint stared at him, but brought the requested chair, even giving Stark a sarcastic bow before heading back to his own seat.

Sarcasm was certainly a way to get into Tony's good graces, as many people knew. It meant that you had a sense of humor, and could possibly manage to put up with him. He filed the information away for later use as he settled himself in front of the monitors. He pursed his lips slightly when he saw the group's name. Escuadrón. Simple and to the point: death squad. At least it wasn't something ridiculous and over the top like they'd seen before. AIM was alright, but he had certainly seen better.

Well, he was getting off track. The point was that Tony's fingers were flying over the screens as quickly as he could. He knew that his biggest asset right then was the fact that they didn't know who he was, where he was. Anything. He was a fly on their servers, and he wanted to keep it that way.

For the rest of the team, it was rather boring; watching Stark work. He muttered under his breath to Jarvis, and his fingers never ceased their movements across the screens. At one point, Hill arrived with cups of coffee for everyone. She set one down next to Stark, but then had to quickly rescue it when he nearly knocked it over. She grumbled about not wanting to clean up a mess, and left that cup on the table.

In truth, Tony wasn't aware of anything going on around him. Escuadrón had wonderful firewalls. He wanted a chance to talk to however designed them, as this was bordering on something he would have thought up. "Alright, J, let's go with a bit more brute force," he muttered, and received his AI's affirmative response.

Fury took another look at Stark, and decided to continue talking to the rest of the team. "Now, assuming Stark is just as good as he says he is, we should have a location fairly soon. When we do, I would like Romanoff and Barton to head there." At the strange looks from the rest of the team, he elaborated. "They are the only two of you that are trained in surveillance. I don't want them to know more than what we have. All of you will be going as well, but you'll be at the hotel waiting for orders. The only reason you would go after them would be if they are compromised. As soon as you have enough information, I expect you to come back here for a debriefing."

"What information are we going to be looking for?" Clint asked, looking over at his partner.

Fury passed the two spies a file. "Here's everything we have on the group. It also contains a list of the information that I want. Unfortunately, they seem to be aware of the dangers of keeping everything on a computer, and prefer hard copies. Get what you can, and get out."

The two nodded at him, and they continued their wait. After what seemed like hours, Tony finally leaned back and looked at them. "There are a few different cities that are mentioned a lot, but Zacatecas came up the most. Such a strange name, I have to say. Great march, though." With that, he started humming the song as he slowly made his way out of their servers. He wanted to be as careful as he could not to give away anything. "So what's our plan?" he asked as he stood and walked casually back to the table. He wanted to keep this as calm as he could.

Bruce quickly filled him in on what they had already discussed. Tony pursed his lips slightly, and leaned back in his chair. Fury glared at him. "There a problem, Stark?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Tony scoffed slightly. "I get why you want me on the team. I mean, come on, who wouldn't? Don't answer that Natashalie," he said quickly as the agent opened her mouth, shutting it and raising her brows at the nickname. He continued on as though he hadn't interrupted himself. "The problem comes in the fact that you have one of the most well-known individuals on the planet as part of this super-secret spy mission. You don't really think that the Mexican government would look the other way if they caught a single glimpse of me within their borders? Especially if I tried to go in under the radar?"

Fury inclined his head slightly at the observation. "So what's your thought, Stark?" Rogers asked.

Tony put on an all suffering look and sighed. He really wished that some of these people could think about who he was, other than the self-centered bastard he presented as. "There's really only two options. Either I go in before all of you, come up with a really convincing reason I need to be there that they would buy, and hope that they don't connect the dots if the operation gets busted, or I'll have to stay behind."

Clint nodded. "I hate to say it, sir, but he has a good point. I don't think he should join us on this." He glared at no one in particular. He'd been one of the ones that wasn't sure about having Stark on the team. This was only one reason out of the many.

Fury looked at Steve. "Captain? This is your team. It's your call."

Steve chewed his lip as he considered. He wasn't used to this sort of thing, and was second guessing the wisdom of having him be team leader. "Sir, I think we should have Stark within flying distance. I know how quickly operations can go to hell, but it would be better if we had some air support, should we need it. Make it too close, though, and the government might get suspicious."

Fury nodded as he thought about it, and turned to Tony. "Is there any reason for you to be near Zacatecas?" he asked.

"Hey J, what factories do I have in Mexico?" Tony asked, pushing the Bluetooth further into his ear.

"_You have one in Mexico City, one in Guadalajara and one in…."_

"Awesome. I've been meaning to check on the one in Guadalajara. We had a few issues there, and Pepper's been after me to head over there and check it out. What's the distance to Zacatecas?"

"_196.3 miles, sir."_

Tony grinned. "Awesome. Let my pilot know. Have Pepper figure out the details that they need to know for me coming over."

"_Will do. I find it necessary to remind you how Miss Potts is likely to react."_

"Thanks for the heads up, J," Tony said, and disconnected the call. "I'll be in Mexico in a few hours, give or take, depending on air traffic. Someone give me a call when you land." With that, he grabbed his bag and strolled out of the room, still whistling the march.

Everyone watched him leave with different reactions. Natasha chuckled slightly, the one person on the team most used to his rather strange behavior, though Bruce was laughing for much the same reason. Clint and Thor looked disgruntled at the rather blatant disregard for authority, and Steve stared thoughtfully at the wall. _They hardly looked like a team of superheroes, but that was alright. They just needed to get back in the swing of things_, Fury thought.

* * *

**There we go. Next update should be in a week, give or take, and we'll be headed South of the Border. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Update time! I won't have a chance to give you another before Christmas, so consider this one your gift from me! I'll definitely get you one more before the new year. Merry Christmas to all of you!  
**

* * *

Everyone, sans Stark, landed at the airport in Zacatecas. Steve and Thor were the only two that didn't speak Spanish, so they willingly stayed in the background as Natasha, Clint, and Bruce took care of the details of getting them to the hotel they were staying at.

It took three cabs to transport all of them there, and they had four rooms reserved, and they were all next to each other with Clint and Natasha sharing a room. They were posing as newlyweds, which was believable enough, and gave them an excuse to stay together to plot and plan.

The first that they did was to have Natasha and Clint pouring over the blueprints of the building that they were going to infiltrate the following evening, giving them a full day to plan, while Steve called Tony.

"Hey, Cap," Tony's voice filtered over the phone that SHIELD issued Steve.

"Stark, we made it to the hotel. Where are you right now?" he asked.

Tony grinned. "I'm pulling up to my factory right now. The head manager here is going to give me a tour and tell me what's wrong and what needs to be fixed, and then I'm heading back to my hotel room to work through all of this. I'm supposed to be here for about a week, enough time to give this place an overhaul. I'll be able to fly there in a little over an hour at my top speed if you need me."

Steve thought that through, and nodded. "Alright. Stay by your phone, just in case. We'll be going through the plans tonight, and we'd like you on speaker, so you know everything."

"That sounds like the man with a plan we all love," Tony quipped with a smirk. "Call me when you need me." With that, he ended the call with a flick of his fingers.

Steve shrugged as he stowed the phone in his pockets. He looked around his hotel room and frowned. It looked quite a bit like his SHIELD issued apartment. Rather bland and uninviting. He sighed as he thought about what that implied, and decided to think about it later. He made his way to the others' rooms.

Clint and Natasha were debating on their approach. "That's way too dangerous, Nat," Clint snapped, looking quite upset.

"Oh, and your way is so much safer?" she retorted. "If we go in there together, not only will we be more visible, but it'll take us twice as long to find everything we need."

"Granted, but if we split up and something happens? What if we can't get a hold of the other, or the rest of the group?"

Natasha sighed. "I'm not saying that it's less risky, Clint. I'm saying that it's the best way to get everything that we need in the most efficient way possible. Our earpieces aren't the SHIELD issued ones, either. These are Stark's, and you can bet that they are the top of the line."

Steve looked somewhat shocked. He hadn't known that Stark had produced things for SHIELD, though it did make sense. He cleared his throat to alert them to his presence. Neither of them jumped, and he would bet a week's wage that they had known he was there from the moment he'd walked into the room. "Alright, talk me through what you have so far," he ordered.

They ended up getting Bruce and Thor into the room as well and ordered their dinner from room service. Planning lasted until well into the night, and Bruce made sure that Tony was on speaker the entire time. He had quite a few suggestions that made sense.

"I'd avoid the air duct, Katniss," Tony said distractedly, making a few notes on the production notes from the factory he was reviewing as well. "I checked out the ones at the factory today, and the ones in Mexico seem a lot smaller than in the US. Not sure if they'd hold up or just drop you in the middle of a group."

Clint's eyes widened at the suggestion, and grabbed the blueprints, quickly scanning them. Stark had been right, there was no way he'd fit comfortably.

Steve nodded at him. "That's a good idea. Alright, what else do we have?"

* * *

The next day, Clint and Natasha spent most of their time together cleaning guns, sharpening knives, and double checking their specialty weapons. Clint made sure that his quiver, bow, and arrows were ready to go, while Natasha made sure that her bracelets were fully charged, along with the rest of what she kept on her. No one knew everything she carried, and frankly, they weren't sure they wanted to know.

They had their suits on, and threw the bathrobes over them. It was a tense wait, but they tried to relax as much as possible. They paid for a movie and ordered room service, making quite the show for the unfortunate soul that had to deliver their dinner. As soon as it was clear that they had as much of an alibi as they could, they snuck out the window, ready for the couple mile hike. It was the best way to get there without being seen, though it was a pain.

As soon as they were at the building, they shared a glance, warning the other to be safe, or there would be hell to pay afterwards. Natasha went to handle the security cameras, and Clint climbed the side until he was on the roof. Now for the hard part.

* * *

Tony was sitting in his hotel room, feet propped up on the chair as he continued looking over the stacks of paperwork he'd been given that day. He was already regretting coming to this factory, remembering now why he usually foisted these off on someone else to take care of.

However, he also had the communications channel open in his ear. The sooner he knew that Clint and Natasha needed help, the better. His suit was in the closet, ready to be put on at a second's notice. His heart was hammering, but he was trying desperately to distract himself with the paperwork.

He also had Pepper on Skype. She didn't know much of what was going on, but she was a very smart woman, able to tell that something was going on. Though she had given him a hard time for taking off for Mexico when he was supposed to be home after the briefing, she understood. So she was helping him with everything he needed to do, while not commenting on the occasional twitches when he thought that his team had been compromised.

He knew that he was being paranoid. After all, the two had worked for SHIELD for years before the Avenger's Initiative had gotten off the ground, and they only had a single battle as a team. He couldn't help it, though. He always felt the same about when Rhodey was working with him, regardless of the fact that the other man had been with the military. He took care of his own.

There was a slight jump when he heard Romanoff speak. "Alright, I think I've gotten everything. Hawkeye, how're you coming?"

"Same. Time for extraction?"

Natasha murmured something in Russian that Tony couldn't translate, then agreed. "Meet back at the hotel. Romanoff out."

Tony felt a burden lift off of him, but he wasn't going to relax until he knew that they were back at the hotel. There were still quite a few things that could go wrong. Pepper, bless her, could tell that something was different, but directed his attention to one of the many inconsistencies that she had found in the numbers. He sighed and had to shift from 'Iron Man' to 'Tony Stark'. It was a distinction that he normally fought against, but this time was one that was required, as Iron Man wasn't the head of a Fortune 100 company.

By the time the two members of the team made it back to the hotel, Tony and Pepper had made it through all of their paperwork and the CEO had gone to bed. Tony was talking with Bruce on the phone when their two SHIELD agents knocked on the door.

Natasha stuck her head in. "Meeting in Steve's room," she said tiredly.

Bruce nodded, but kept Tony on the phone, just in case he had some more insight for them. Less than two minutes later, they were seated somewhat comfortably in their leader's room, and they were going over everything that they had managed to get. Natasha was on the computer, printing the pictures of the files that Fury had asked them to get, and sending them to the director via email.

Thor looked around at the group. Tony and Bruce were talking in hushed voices; it seemed as though Stark was making sure that the other two had returned safely. Thor nodded, pleased that for all his nonchalance, the engineer still cared about the rest of the team. Romanoff and Barton were talking about what they had found.

Steve, however, was fidgeting with his phone and biting his lip. The god walked over and took the empty seat next to him. "What is on your mind?" he asked softly.

The captain clearly wasn't sure if he wanted to voice his opinion, and fought with himself for a moment. In the end, though, he caved. "That just seemed way too easy. Neither of them ran into another person while they were there, and Barton was saying that the security system was a joke. This just smells kind of fishy to me."

Thor wasn't sure about the last phrase, certain that their Captain was not able to catch the scent of fish, and assumed that it was just another catch phrase. Perhaps he should learn some of these strange phrases that his teammates used. As he thought about it, he realized that he didn't like the situation, either. "Perhaps you should contact the director?" he suggested. "Inform him of your worries."

Steve thought about it, but shook his head. He was probably just jumping at shadows, still not used to this time period. "I'll talk to him when we get back to the States," he conceded, earning an approving nod from the god.

Tony was finishing his conversation with Bruce. He and Pepper had discussed the schedule, and decided that he would stay in Mexico for another couple of days, just to keep anyone from connecting the dots. It would also be good for the factory if he managed to fix everything that was going on there. Some of the numbers still weren't adding up, and it was frustrating to him.

Bruce assured him that they would be alright without him for a few days. The rest of the team was leaving the following day (it was already well after midnight, so a little over a day, actually). They would make sure to include Iron Man in the debriefing.

* * *

**Things are starting to pick up now. Is Steve just jumping at shadows? Or is there more to this than they're thinking? **

**Next update will have everyone, and we'll finally get some action in this story. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope you all had as good of a holiday time as I did! This will be the last update for this story this year, so here's to 2013! Have fun on New Years, and I'll see you soon!**

* * *

For Tony the next few days, time passed absurdly slow. He was at the airport, waiting for Happy with the plane so that he could head back. The team had already had their debrief, and he had his own Skype with Fury about his, limited, involvement.

There was a small amount of pride, and a large amount of anger, as he dragged his bag towards Happy where he was waiting. He and Pepper had figured out what was wrong with the figures they'd been reviewing from the factory. It was an embezzler, who had managed to stay under the radar for years, and had managed to siphon off almost two million. Only a couple of days in Mexico had allowed him to figure it out, fire and arrest the man, and hopefully prevent another occurrence. Tony would do his best to make sure the man actually served time in prison, which wasn't common with white collar crime, but he detested anyone who tried to make their living by stealing.

As the plane took off, he decided to get some more work done for some new SI products. While he enjoyed being Iron Man, he knew that he had an obligation to his family's company. Even though Pepper was the CEO, there was still quite a bit that he had to do.

When he finally arrived on US soil, he didn't have the time to go home to see Pepper, but immediately grabbed the suit and took off for the Helicarrier, where there was another meeting. SHIELD did have another headquarters on land, but given the secrecy of this mission, Fury had decided that a moving target would be better in case they were found out.

By the time he made it into the conference room, the rest of the team was gathered there. He saw Bruce and Thor talking quietly together, Natasha and Clint debating something, and Steve was speaking to Fury. Both were looking worried, though it was harder to tell with Fury.

Hill was the first to see him there, and she cleared her throat so that Fury would turn around. "Everything alright?" Tony asked, looking around. Everyone seemed to be more subdued than the last time.

Fury rubbed his bald head wearily and motioned for Tony to sit with the others, while Steve also took a seat. "Rogers here brought up a couple of his concerns with the mission."

Natasha turned her head, but didn't look surprised. Neither did Clint, but they were both waiting patiently to hear what Steve had to say.

Fury didn't keep them in suspense. "That was supposed to be their headquarters, but not a single person was seen, correct?" he asked the two spies, who shook their heads. "A piss poor security system, no guards or cleaning crews working late, and the information we needed was practically out in the open, just waiting for us to grab it. I'm smelling a set up."

"What does your agent have to say about it?" Bruce asked, cleaning his glasses and perching them back on his face.

"Haven't heard from him since I sent you all in there. That's making me even more nervous. He should have contacted us by now."

Tony was fidgeting, though he kept a cool exterior. "I can go back into their systems, and see what I can find. What's his alias?"

It was Fury's turn to hesitate, which made them all suspicious. He snuck a quick glance at Romanoff and Barton before he spoke. "Steve Remington."

Clint shot out of his seat. "Tell me that's a sick joke, giving his alias to another agent," he snarled, even throwing Nat's calming hand off of his arm.

Fury didn't shrink under the glare, and spoke calmly. He seemed unconcerned, but they could all tell that something was wrong. "I didn't give his alias to anyone else."

"Are you telling us what I think you are?" Natasha asked coldly, reading between the lines, but not wanting to get her hopes up.

Fury answered by throwing a file onto the table. Clint was the first to grab for it, and no one wanted to lose a hand by trying to beat him to it. He opened it once, then dropped it like a poisonous snake. Natasha glanced once, and turned away, teeth clenched in anger.

Steve reached for the file and passed it around. The first page was a picture of Coulson.

Tony felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He had seen the footage of Coulson's 'death', himself. Why hadn't he bothered to ask why there had never been a funeral for the beloved agent? He knew that he had just wanted to get away from everything SHIELD related after the alien invasion, but he should have seen this coming. What was it that he'd said to Steve? "He's _the spy_. His secrets have secrets."

He was the first to speak again, and he kept his voice as controlled as he could, but allowed the iron of his rage to escape slightly. "Why?"

Fury dropped into a seat, looking world weary. "I didn't know myself until after the invasion was finished. One of the doctors had realized that he was still alive, and spent the next three days trying to stabilize him. Once he was recovered, we started getting wind of this group, and he volunteered to go in undercover. After all, as far as most people were concerned, Phil Coulson was dead. It would be easier for him. All of you were gone, or on other missions, and I agreed to keep this under wraps until his mission was complete. We didn't foresee him needing you guys to help."

Clint looked like he was about to jump across the table and throttle Fury where he was sitting. Tony made a mental note about the archer's reaction for later contemplation. While the rest of the group was planning Fury's disembowelment, he stood and walked over to the monitors, quickly connecting to Jarvis.

"We have an agent to find," he said, still in complete control of his tone. His AI might be able to tell, but that was because he knew Tony better than any other living person.

"_Agreed, sir. I have already begun looking into the servers."_

So, while the arguing started behind him, he dove headfirst into his work. This was something that he was good at, and something that he could do to help. He would have his time to bitch out Fury once all of this was over. As he worked, his mind flashed with all of his memories of Agent, and tried not to worry about whether or not he was injured, or worse.

It was taking him longer this time than before. Perhaps they had learned from their mistakes and had updated their firewalls? He was getting frustrated by the lack of progress that he and Jarvis, together probably the top two geniuses on computers in the world, were making.

When he finally thought they were getting somewhere, alarms began blaring, startling everyone in the room. Fury scrambled to his feet and made his way over to his people. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded on of the workers.

"Engine Four is down. We have no idea what happened!" one cried.

The woman next to him was calmer, though still looked quite panicked. "Electrical failure, same as last time."

"Stark!" Fury barked.

Tony growled low in his throat. He had only two options: suit up and throw himself into the grinder like before, or try to solve it from here. He chose the latter. While he didn't mind suiting up again for this, he figured there was more he could do where he was. So he jumped to the next monitor, leaving Jarvis to finding Agent, and he started looking at the engine plans.

"Fury, I'm updating your entire carrier once we get out of this," he snarled. "Was this thing designed by Hammer? Might as well have been." This was unacceptable! His hands flew over the touch screens as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Hill ran back into the room. "We have unidentified hostiles on the carrier."

The rest of the Avengers grabbed their weapons and hurried to leave the room. Tony wished that he was going with them, but he knew he was more valuable here. Too much to do, and he hadn't figured out how to clone himself. If he finished figuring all of this out in time, he would head up to the rest of his team.

"How the hell did they find us?" Tony asked Fury, who was practically looking over his shoulder. "Last time was because they had Barton."

Fury had been wondering the same thing. It made no sense, and he would try and figure it out as soon as they got through this. If it was a betrayal, he would keelhaul the bastard that sold them out.

Tony wished that he had grabbed his suit and put it on as he heard the fight get closer to them. As it was, he wasn't immune to bullets unless he wore the suit. He was struggling to get the first engine fixed when they felt the carrier drop beneath them as a second one failed.

"Stark…"

"I know," he snapped back to the director.

Fury knew that, but he felt useless right then. This was his Helicarrier, and these were his people. Would they all make it out of this a second time around? Right now, there was only one thing that he could do, and that was to protect Stark. It galled him to do that, but there was no one other than him that could fix the carrier and save them in time. If Stark fell, they all would.

He kept in contact with the rest of the Avengers through the ear pieces, and realized that they were struggling to keep most of them back. They seemed to know exactly where to go, and more managed to slip past them than they would like.

At long last, there was gunfire right outside, so Fury pulled his weapon out and aimed at the door. This was something that he could do, and do well. Bullets flew, and Tony cursed as his fingers started slipping; the carrier was still in freefall, causing him to lose his footing.

Fury was close to snapping at Stark again, but knew that the man was doing everything that he could to fix this. He looked up when he heard a grunt.

Tony cursed colorfully as he felt a bullet tear through his left forearm. Well, that arm was useless now, and he would have to move twice as fast to get through this. To get all of them through this.

Fury cursed himself for letting a stray bullet past him and quickly dropped that one, though several more came through the room. Hill was on the other side, picking gunmen off as quickly as she could. The blood would likely never get out of the floors this time around; it had taken forever before.

Tony grunted as he continued his work. "I'm almost there," he informed the man next to him. "I'm so designing the next carrier."

Fury rolled his eyes at the comment, but knew that Stark quipped when he was stressed. He had déjà vu when he heard Hill shout, "Grenade!"

He saw the small canister roll towards him and Stark. If he allowed it to explode there, not only would Stark die, but the monitors needed to fix his engines would be destroyed. Everyone on the carrier would die. He didn't take another moment to think, but jumped on top of it.

* * *

**I don't usually do cliffhangers, but I couldn't help this one. I'd say sorry, but I love cliffies.  
**

**At least we know that Coulson hadn't died in Avengers, right? Not a comfort right now? Alright, I guess I earned that. **

**So, the attack on the carrier might seem far fetched, and like I just stole from the movie, which I sort of did. Things were quite different this time around. After all, Tony didn't need to jump into the engine this time. It was a problem that could possibly be solved by staying inside and working from computers. Taking a bit of leeway, as I have no idea if that's even possible, but for the purposes of this story, I say it is! **

**:-)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Holy crap, weather here has been insane! I wrecked my car, and somehow walked away with minor injuries, thankfully. Also, the internet was out, which was why this hasn't been updated in a while. Sorry about that. **

**I'm slightly surprised at the lack of response on the cliffhanger I left you all last time. Oh, well. Maybe this one will be better :-)**

* * *

Tony's brain seemed to stall as he saw a man that he'd come to respect literally jump onto a grenade for him. Well, it was for all of them, but still. He couldn't think of anyone in his life that was willing to do that for him. He'd done it several times for others, but he found he really didn't like being on this side of the equation.

"Jarvis, find me something to fix this. NOW!" he roared at his AI.

"_Working on it._ _Sir. _Even his AI sounded tense.

He knew that, but he was close to panicking. There was a small chance that Fury would make it, but only if he got medical attention now.

Finally, _finally,_ he figured out how to fix the first engine. The carrier leveled out slightly, but Tony didn't take the time to gloat, and went about fixing the second one. The pilots quickly worked to get the carrier higher in the air once again, just to be safe.

By the time he had fixed it, he could tell that the battle was over. It was in the eerie quiet; the stillness only broken as medics rushed into the room and towards the director.

Nick Fury was a mess. There was blood and burnt flesh everywhere. Tony's stomach rolled at the smell and at the sight, and he wondered what he could do, if anything. All of his genius at that moment meant nothing to him.

Hill was the one that brought him out of it. "…ark! Stark!" she shouted, shaking him out of his stupor.

"What?" he asked, still shell-shocked. He saw that she hadn't made it through unscathed, either, but her injuries didn't seem dire.

"The engines fixed?" she demanded. When he nodded numbly at her, she nodded back. "Then you have to get above deck. Hulk is tearing things apart, and you're the only that he usually lets near."

Tony didn't bother replying, but started looking around for his miniature suit. He wished he'd put it on before, but there hadn't been time. If he had taken a few seconds to don it before, then Fury would be fine. He cursed himself as he looked for it, for the first time regretting making it smaller. Hill helped him look, and finally found it against the far wall, and he quickly put it on.

He hurried to get to Bruce, who wouldn't forgive himself if he hurt any SHIELD agents. When he heard the roars, he knew he was close.

When he finally made it above deck, he saw Thor and Steve fighting to keep the Hulk from going after the agents that were running around. He flew the rest of the way, tired of walking. He flew above his team, and called down.

"Hey, green bean!" he called, getting Hulk's attention. "Battle's over, big guy. You can calm down now. Everything's alright. You hear me, right?"

It took a couple of minutes, but the rage monster finally calmed down, allowing the other two to relax. Tony looked around, and saw that Clint looked unharmed, while Natasha seemed to have injured her neck slightly, though she was being looked at by one of the medics. Steve looked like he was in pain, but refused treatment. Thor just looked tired.

Clint was the first to come up to him. "You alright?" he asked, concerned.

Tony flipped the faceplate up. "I'm just peachy," he said, still shaking. They both looked over, and saw the Hulk had fallen asleep, and was slowly shrinking. They would have Banner back before long.

Thor was the first to notice that something was wrong. "Stark, what ails you?" He could see how pale his teammate was.

Steve hurried over. Though he and Tony never got on, the engineer was a member of the team, and so he was just as concerned as if it were Clint that was hurt. "What is it?"

Tony just collapsed the suit down, gasping as the gunshot wound to his arm finally registered. Amazing, what adrenaline does. He waved off the concern from the team. "I'm fine, but…"

"What?" Clint asked. He could tell when someone didn't care about their injuries because there were people that were hurt even worse. They were all like that. It was one of the few things that each member of the team had in common with the rest.

"Fury's been injured," he forced himself to say through white lips. "He laid on the wire," he said, looking at Steve.

The Captain felt shock at that. They had all known that the director was just human, but he seemed to be more, larger than life. For him to be hurt enough that Stark looked so haunted? It had to be bad. Right now, that meant that he was in charge of the Avengers, and he would do his job. "Right. I'll talk to the doctors and get a report from them. You go with Natasha and get patched up. We'll meet in Hill's office."

Tony nodded. Hill's office was on the other side of the Helicarrier, so they would be further from the main damage. He walked on autopilot with the medical team and Natasha to the infirmary. The female spy seemed to be alright, but in some pain from her neck. He allowed the doctor to pull the bullet from his arm and stitch him up. He didn't need the pain medicine, as he was numb already. "Any word on Fury?" he asked the doctor.

"Not yet," the young woman said as she wrapped gauze around his arm. "Keep that dry, and you can get the stitches out in about two weeks. Come back in a few days for one of us to take a look, make sure it's healing alright."

Tony just nodded and went to check on Natasha. She was, of course, arguing with her own doctor, who was insisting that she wear a neck brace for a few days. Finally, the doctor won the argument by presenting it in a logical way, and she caved. Tony knew that it would only be on her for a day at most before she finally ripped it off.

"Shall we find the others?" he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets, his suit once again in his bag and slung over his shoulder.

Natasha studied him for a moment. She could smell the guilt a mile off, and would figure out exactly what caused it later. Right now, they had other things to worry about. She nodded, and the two of them made their way through the maze that was the carrier.

Their walk was spent in silence until they finally reached the office. The rest of the team and Hill were already in there, though Bruce looked like he was about to fall asleep again. Hulk-outs always wore him out.

Natasha sat down next to Clint and Thor, with Bruce slumped on one of chairs. Steve and Tony stood, though there was plenty of seating. Hill shrugged, figuring it wasn't worth the argument. She knew that they were a lot alike, though they would never admit to it.

"Alright, we have a few things to figure out. First for you, Stark. Did you find Coulson?"

Tony could tell that she was worried about her coworker, but he shook his head. "I thought I was getting close, but then I had to focus on the engines."

No joke or smart ass remark. That worried everyone in the room, though few showed it. Hill nodded. "Then I want you to get to work on that as soon as you can. We need to figure out what happened." Tony nodded at her, so she continued. "I want to know how the hell they figured out where we are. We have some of the best security in the world. If Coulson knew they were closing in on our location, he would have warned us."

"Trackers," Tony said aloud, and everyone turned to look at him. "They must have planted a tracker or two on you guys when you went into the building in Mexico."

"How?" Clint demanded. "You might not notice something like that, but we're trained to pay attention to stuff like that, so…"

"Barton," Hill said warningly, and he shut up, still glaring. "He has a point. I want you and Romanoff to bring everything you wore to the building in Mexico to our techs. Watch them as they look over everything. If they find something, call me immediately." She paused, biting her lip. "As soon as we figure out how they tracked us, we'll land and take the wounded to a SHIELD hospital. So, Stark, Barton, and Romanoff, you have your duties. The rest of you, I want you to help getting this thing fixed as best you can. Collect the dead for when we land."

Tony didn't envy them the task, thought they were best suited for it, given they were the strongest among them. He pushed away from the wall. "I'm going to head back to my Tower. I have better equipment. I'll be able to find Coulson faster there."

Hill just nodded at him. "Fine. Everyone, go and work. I'll expect to hear from all of you in a few hours."

Tony didn't wait any longer, but threw his suit back on and left. He was sickened with himself, knowing that the director was in critical condition right now, if not dead, because he hadn't thought to suit up earlier. His cooler head reminded him that if he'd been wearing the suit, he wouldn't have been able to move as quickly to stabilize the carrier, but he didn't care.

It didn't take him long to get home, and Pepper was waiting for him. She didn't throw herself at him, and only glanced at the bandage on his arm. "Are you alright?" she asked, trying to keep herself from falling apart.

He went and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. It helped, after the day he had, to have an anchor. She would always be his anchor. He breathed in her scent, letting it steady him. "Bad day at the office," he muttered.

She chuckled slightly at the understatement. Hill had called her, letting her know what had happened. She would thank her at another time. "I understand you have some homework to do?" she questioned. Hill had been rather evasive about it.

Tony nodded, not letting go of her entirely, but leading her towards his workshop. He wasn't going to let her out of his sight for a bit. Today had been far too close for him. If it hadn't been for Fury, at least. "I have to talk to you about a few things."

She listened silently as he pulled up all of the screens he needed while he talked. She gasped when he told her about Coulson being alive, and held back a whimper when he mentioned what Fury had done while Tony had been busy. She kept it behind her quivering lips as he finished talking.

"So, you're going to find Coulson for them?" she double checked as soon as she could talk without her voice wavering.

"Yeah," he muttered, continuing to work on autopilot as he tried to find something, anything, that would lead him to their favorite agent.

Pepper knew better than to question him when he got like this. She also knew that they would both draw strength from the other's presence, so she would be doing her work for the day in his workshop. She only left to fix them some dinner.

Tony barely glanced at her through all of it, but he knew when she was there, and when she left. As soon as he had the information he needed, he pulled out his phone. "Hill, I've got him."

He convinced Fury's second in command to let him be the one to go and get their errant agent, which she agreed to with surprisingly little resistance. After all, he was closer, and she had her hands full dealing with the fallout from the attack.

Pepper kissed him as he called for Happy to meet him with the car. "Call me later?" she asked.

He held her tightly. "Count on it."

Happy drove him quickly, breaking as many traffic laws as he could. Tony, meanwhile, let his mind drift. He would have preferred to drive himself, but he wasn't going to. Contrary to popular opinion, he could delegate when he needed to. It was how he managed not to ruin the company years ago.

Right now, for example, his arm was killing him, and his brain was jammed. He hated the feeling, but he couldn't help it. It was as though his mind was on replay, constantly forcing him to see the grenade explode underneath Nick Fury. The smells, the sounds, the panic, threatened to overwhelm him, so he knew that he shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car.

"We're here," Happy told him, looking at his boss through the rearview mirror.

Tony thanked the man, and stepped out and into the building. He walked up to the front desk, and looked at the nurse. "Hello, I understand you have a John Doe here, victim of a beating?"

* * *

**Well, we found Coulson, and he's alive! He'll play a part on the next update, which will be within the week. I'll see you all then!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Meant to have this up earlier, so I'm sorry! I started classes this past week, so we'll see how that works with two stories going. Thankfully, this one isn't nearly as long as my HP epic. Of course, nothing could be as long as that one is. We're more than halfway on this one :-) (Just in case you were wondering how long this one was going to be).**

* * *

Clint and Natasha went to their rooms and gathered the clothes that they had worn in Mexico. Neither were sure what to make of Stark's notion that there were trackers that had been planted on them, but it did make sense. So, they took everything to the techs, and spoke quietly to each other while they waited.

"You think Stark will find him?"

Natasha didn't need clarification on who 'he' was. She nodded, not taking her eyes off the techs. Call her paranoid, she certainly did, but she wasn't going to trust other people implicitly with something like this. "If anyone can, it's Stark," she said diplomatically. She wanted to have hope, but she could be a realist when she needed to be. An attack preceded by a missing undercover agent spelled bad things to her.

"Agents, I found something," one of the techs called.

Both of them hurried over to see what had been discovered. The tech used tiny tweezers to pull a piece of metal from one of Natasha's boots. There were a few on both of hers. He placed it under a microscope.

"Stark was right," she muttered, furious. It was a tiny tracker, designed to stick to anything it came into contact with. They must have figured out they were under surveillance, and decided to do some black ops of their own. It fit with all the information they had so far.

Clint went to the tech that was now looking at his boots, but they were clean. So, the trackers were on the floor somewhere that Natasha had been. Now that they knew what the problem was, the techs jammed the signal, and would tell Hill that it was safe to land somewhere to get more help for their injured.

Natasha was beside herself with anger that she had been used to track SHIELD. Now she knew how Clint had felt before, but he at least had the excuse that he was under a spell at the time. She should have seen something like this coming. But no, it was Steve that realized something was off with their op, and Stark that figured it out.

Seeing that his partner was about to attack the next person that spoke to her, he led her to the training rooms. They weren't as spacious as he'd like, but it was enough for them to spar for a bit. He was careful of her neck, but he knew that she needed this. Though she knew what he was doing, Natasha worked out her aggression in a familiar way. They were both careful not to go as full out as they usually did. The last thing SHIELD needed was to lose another agent to a careless injury.

* * *

Tony followed the nurse through the halls and she waved him through a door. He nodded at her once he saw the familiar face, and she hurried away to find a doctor. Tony let himself into the room, closing the door as soon as he entered.

"It's like I'm seeing a ghost," Tony commented to the man on the bed.

Coulson nodded at him, a slight twitch in his lips betraying his hidden smile. "Stark. Congratulations, you have officially been added to the list of people capable of surprising me."

Tony shrugged as he pulled a chair closer to the bed. "Well, what can I say? I live to please. How are you feeling?"

A raised brow met his words, and Tony could hear what the man was thinking: _How do you think I'm feeling? _Instead, he asked a question of his own. "How?"

"We got called in on the Escuadrón case. When Fury didn't hear from you after he sent the team in, we got worried," Tony said, editing for the sake of saving time.

"The reason I got stuck with you again?" Coulson asked, brow still raised.

Tony put on a mock injured look on his face. "I spend countless hours trying to find you, and this is the thanks that I get? See if I go looking for you next time you go missing."

"Dear me, I forgot how fragile your ego can be. Well then, thank you so much for finding me and coming yourself to annoy me into an early grave," the agent deadpanned.

Tony rolled his eyes. "How bad's the damage?"

"I can leave," Coulson stated blandly.

Tony interpreted: in insane amounts of pain, but not dead or dying. It seemed all of SHIELD felt the same about hospitals. He just nodded. "I'll check with Hill to see where they are, and then we'll take off. I'll send the doctor in so that you can sign out AMA."

Coulson stared at him, and Tony remember that the man practically had mind reading powers, so he hurried out of the room. So the agent was left on his bed, pondering the latest development. For Stark to be here could be a few different things. After all, Coulson had volunteered to get the man during the Loki incident. Perhaps Stark wanted to return the favor. However, he could tell that something else was going on with the man.

He could practically see the regret pouring off of the other man. Something had happened, and it was bad. Then there was the fact that Tony was contacting Hill, not Fury. Coulson tried to fight the sense of dread he was feeling, but he could tell something was off.

Well, he knew Stark better than most others at SHIELD. He'd find a way to get the information out of Stark as soon as they were on the road.

A doctor and nurse both came in, trying to convince him to stay for at least another night, but he refused, nearly ripping the forms out of their hands to sign it. He signed his alias as illegibly as he could, and accepted the scrubs that they handed him. The clothes that he'd worn were not wearable anymore, what with all of the tears and blood stains. He accepted the crutches, and hobbled out of the room with as much dignity as he could muster.

He found Tony outside on the phone. As soon as the other man caught a glimpse of him, he quickly ended the call. "Happy's bringing the car around."

Coulson just nodded at him, and they waited. It wasn't long before a sleek black car pulled up, and they both got inside.

"Where to, boss?" Happy asked.

Tony gave him the address of the new Headquarters, which didn't surprise Coulson at all. It would be at least three hours to get there, so he decided he would rest his body, but study the other man. Stark was fidgeting with his phone. To anyone else, it might seem like he was getting something done, but Phil knew better. Still, he wasn't going to ask. He'd let Stark bring it up.

Tony surprised him once again, though. He kept his mouth shut for the entire car ride, which had to be some record. That, more than anything else, worried him. He'd been around Stark enough to realize that the man never shut up unless he was neck deep in his latest project.

They finally made it to HQ, and the agents at the gate must have been forewarned by Hill, because they were let in as soon as they saw who it was. It was only a few minutes later that they were on their way from the garage to Hill's new office. Coulson wondered when someone would tell him what was going on, especially what had happened to Nick.

He could also tell that the only reason Stark was walking so slowly was in deference to him. The taut muscle in his jaw showed that he would be running if it wasn't for his iron clad hold on his control.

Finally, they made it to the office, and Steve was the one that let them in. He nodded to Tony, and greeted Coulson warmly. Tony looked to Bruce, who appeared to be recovered from the Hulk-out, and shot him a questioning look.

Bless Bruce, because he understood without being asked. "He's critical," he said as gently as he could. "They're not sure if he's going to make it. They're still working on him, but his arm was practically obliterated, and his leg will be useless."

Tony felt stinging in his eyes, and turned away before anyone could see the wetness there. The team gave him a few moments to get himself under control, and Natasha and Clint were greeting Coulson. Hill quickly filled the agent in on the day's events as soon as the injured man had been seated in the most comfortable chair in the room.

Finally, it was Phil's turn to speak. He filled them in on everything that had happened after he had been placed in Escuadrón. "They figured out I wasn't who I said I was after you guys broke in. I was a bit too curious, and they figured out that I wasn't Steve. They don't know that I'm SHIELD, but it didn't matter. The fact that I lied was all they cared about."

Everyone nodded as they listened. Maria looked around the group that was gathered. Phil looked like hell, and he really should be lying down. Bruce, Clint, Thor, and Steve all looked exhausted by their day and she couldn't blame them. Natasha looked more annoyed than anything, though she guessed the spy was just as tired as the rest of them.

Tony looked awful, which wasn't surprising. She'd try to have him see the SHIELD psychiatrist, which was normal procedure after seeing something like what he'd seen that day, but knew that she probably had a better chance of getting him to hand over the designs for his suits before that happened.

"Go home," she ordered them. "There's nothing we can do right now. Taking down Escuadrón isn't going to happen tonight. Get some rest, have something to eat. Report back here tomorrow at 2pm and we'll figure this out."

They all looked like they wanted to argue with her, but she glared at them. It wouldn't help to have them collapse on her because they worked themselves to the bone. After a bit more arguing, they agreed.

Clint and Natasha left with Coulson to make sure he was alright. Steve and Thor left, talking about the battle and what they could do to improve. Bruce looked at Tony, who shrugged. "I've got Happy outside. Want to crash at my place tonight?"

* * *

Bruce could tell that something was wrong later that night, at the Tower. He hadn't slept there since the night after the invasion, and the bed was as wonderful as he'd remembered. However, this time it wasn't as nice, not because there was something wrong with the bed. No, it was because it wasn't the end of their mission, only the middle.

Also, because he had the feeling Tony wasn't relaxing. He didn't know Tony as well as some of the others, but probably better than the rest of the team. He had seen how the other man was after an invasion, and after his issues with AIM a while back. Tony had bounced back pretty quickly after both. This time, though, he seemed to be internalizing everything. Bruce knew, from firsthand experience, that was a bad idea.

So he threw off the covers and grabbed his jeans and shoes. As soon as he was decent, he spoke aloud. "Jarvis, where is Tony?"

"_Master Stark is in the kitchen fixing another pot of coffee."_

Bruce frowned. He knew the man was tired. He'd looked awful during the debrief at HQ, and could certainly use some sleep. "How many pots has he had?"

"_Starting the third, Mr. Banner."_

Bruce sighed and made his way to the kitchen on the floor above his. It was Tony and Pepper's personal floor, but he'd been told more than once that he was welcome there anytime. This time, he would take advantage of the invitation.

When he reached the kitchen, he saw Tony holding a cup of coffee while staring at a pile of paperwork. Bruce had the feeling that he wasn't reading it, so much as he was using it as something to hold and glare at. He knew the feeling.

Hesitating for only a moment, he moved forward, reaching for another mug. "Mind sharing a drink with me?" he asked.

Tony didn't startle; he just set down the papers and poured coffee from the pot next to him in the mug Bruce held out expectantly. Bruce then went to check the fridge, and found what he was looking for: a bottle of Bailey's. He didn't often drink, as it made him lose control slightly on the other guy, but he wasn't going to be getting drunk. He poured some in his coffee. "Want some?" he asked.

Tony looked up, and gave a weak smile. "Offering me my own liquor?" he asked, but nodded, and stirred it in before taking a fortifying drink.

The scientist took a seat across the table and sat in silence for a few minutes. "What are you working on?" he asked.

Tony sighed, pushing the papers away and leaning back in his chair. "The reports from Guadalajara. We arrested the embezzler, but now we have to help work through the hiring or promoting someone to take his place."

"Want some help?" he offered, and Tony actually agreed. They spent the next hour pouring over the papers, and finally they came to a solution together.

"I'll run it past Pepper in the morning, but this should work," he said, pouring them both some more coffee, which Bruce again spiked. He forced a grin. "Are you trying to get me drunk? Usually I'm the one doing that."

Bruce let out a low chuckle. "Well, you caught me. I'm trying to counteract all the coffee you've had, in the hopes that you'll get some sleep before we report back tomorrow."

Tony had no answer to that one, but stared into his coffee cup. He was quiet for a while, before he finally started talking. "What's the use of all of this?" he asked rhetorically. Bruce kept his mouth shut, hoping that his friend would keep talking. "I mean, I can take care of my factories, make another suit, work on another gadget for the company, but when it comes down to it, I can't do anything!" His voice had been rising slowly through his rant, and his bloodshot eyes made him look half crazed. Bruce wondered if he should step in, but Tony wasn't done. "I may not always like Fury, and he'll never make it on my Christmas list, but I respect the guy at least a bit. Then he goes and throws his life away like that! All he had to do was get my suit, and then none of this would have happened!"

Bruce finally spoke up. "Tony," he said firmly, shutting him up. "Fury did that because if you had died, then everyone on the Helicarrier would have died as well. He was looking at the bigger picture. If you were in the suit, you wouldn't have been moving as quickly, and the carrier probably would have crashed. He would have died then as well."

Tony actually glared at him. "He's not dead yet," he snapped.

"No, he's not," Bruce agreed mildly. "You need to remember that. I don't want us to get our hopes up, but he's a fighter, you know that."

Tony's eyes, which had been on his cup again, shot up. "Not dead yet," he muttered. Then he shot to his feet. "Thanks, jolly green," he said, and took off for the elevator. "Jarvis, get me all of Fury's medical records."

Bruce watched him disappear behind the elevator doors, completely perplexed by the turn of events. First Tony was depressed, then furious, and know he was brainstorming. Knowing Tony, this could either turn out very well, or very badly. For everyone's sakes, he hoped it was the former. However, he wasn't going to figure it out until later. He drained his cup, and decided that he would get some rest. Tomorrow promised to be a busy day for all of them.

* * *

**Didn't mean to make it this long, but that was one hell of a long day for the team!  
**


End file.
